"God Does Not Shy away from Making an Example of a Female Mosquito, or Something above it..." (Quran 2:26)

Published in October 10, 2017

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

 Introduction:

1- We have written before about the culture of disgrace and shame that some Muslim thinkers adopt; they feel ashamed by some Quranic verses or items/notions mentioned in these verses because they assume such items/notions contradict the culture of the West! (see our article in English titled "To The Victims of the Culture of Disgrace and Shame, Who Are Too Much Impressed by the Culture of the West" found on this link: http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=17285) Those thinkers who feel disgraced or ashamed try to intentionally distort the meanings of Quranic verses and provide erroneous interpretations for them. If they were truly Quran-believing thinkers, they would not have dared to misinterpret Quranic verses and to twist their meanings to make them match the culture of the West. Those thinkers forget that the Quran is a unique pioneer text that precedes the higher values and human rights of West, especially regarding the balance between both justice and equality, women's rights, and absolute religious freedom. The Quran tackles human rights (and some scientific facts) 14 centuries ago before Europe and the West.

2- God mentions some insects in the Quranic text as examples within parables: mosquitos, flies, and spiders, and some in Quranic stories like ants within the story of Solomon and lice within the plagues inflicted on Moses' Pharaoh and his people. Quranic stories serve as a source to draw moral lessons. Regarding some creatures and insects, the moral lessons include the scientific facts mentioned by God (revealed before the age of reason and science of humanity) which prove  that the Quran is NEVER authored by mortals because it is God's Word. For instance, God mentions that  no one can take away from flies what they absorb, as flies change the nature of their food before swallowing it, a Quranic fact mentioned before science could prove it: "O people! A parable is presented, so listen to it: Those you invoke besides God will never create a fly, even if they banded together for that purpose. And if the fly steals anything from them, they cannot recover it from it. Weak are the pursuer and the pursued." (22:73). Likewise, God mentions the female spider within a parable about those who take allies/saints beside God; female spiders eat their male mates (and this is the destruction of the female spiders' houses or families), and those who worship entombed deities/saints in museums do not know they destroy themselves and never earn any good: "The likeness of those who take to themselves allies other than God is that of the female spider as she builds a house. But the most fragile of houses is the spider's house. If they only knew." (29:41).

3- The same applies to the Quran mentioning the female (and not male) mosquito in 2:26, as mosquitos suck human blood and humans cannot fight these weak flying insects though they are not as quick as flies and not as strong in the physical form as lice and fleas.

4- A Quranist writer within our website felt 'ashamed' of the fact that Quran mentions female mosquitos, and within an article of his, he has distorted and twisted the meaning of 2:26 to make it refer to totally different things! This writer forgets the fact that God gave believers a Clear Book, NOT a convoluted, vague book of algorithms and complicated ciphers that need to be deciphered. This writer forgets that God does not shy away from making an example of a female mosquito, but this writer feels ashamed of this insect mentioned in the Quran! This writer unwittingly made the rest of the verse apply to him: "...As for those who believe, they know that it is the Truth from their Lord. But as for those who disbelieve, they say, "What did God intend by this example?" He leads astray many thereby, and He guides many thereby; but He misleads thereby only the evildoers." (2:26). It is a major sin/crime to distort meanings of Quranic verses to misguide people; the Quran is a source of guidance and its verses misguide only the haters of God's Word.  

5- We have deleted such article from our website and reminded its writer to adhere to the Quranist methodology of neutrally pondering the Quran without prior views or whims or prejudices for which this writer distorts and twists meanings of Quranic verses.  

6- Science now proves the greatness of God the Creator within many discoveries in nature, especially the female mosquito mentioned by God in the Quran. We quote below some scientific facts about female mosquitos.

Firstly: facts about female mosquitos:        

1- The female mosquitos are the most dangerous creatures on earth as they transmit fatal diseases to humans and animals within disasters resulting in their death; they carry diseases that cause human death such as malaria, the yellow fever, encephalitis, and dengue fever. It is only female mosquitos that suck human blood (and blood of birds and animals) to get the protein to feed eggs inside their tiny bodies.  

2- The female mosquitos fly within a rapid speed considering their tiny sizes: 1-1.5 mile per hour, and they are slower than flies. The speed of the wings of the female mosquitoes is 300-600 movements per second, and this causes the audible sound of these insects when they fly near the human ear, and it is very hard to catch them while flying as they are very fast in maneuvering. 

3- The female mosquitos receive the voice of male ones as the latter try to catch the attention of the former by moving their wings in a special way that produces a special sound recognized by the female mosquitos.

4- The female mosquitos, followed by male ones, move within the distance of 100 miles in search for the ideal environment: salty water surfaces and swamps.

5- The female mosquitos need this type of water (even the least amount of it) to lay their eggs on the water surface; eggs never drown inside this water.

6- The female mosquitos can sense carbon dioxide within the diameter of 75 feet; thus, they easily reach human bodies that exhale it while breathing. 

7- The female mosquitos have more than 100 eyes like microscopes and similar in shape to beehives, and they can see things and colors as per their temperature. They have receptors to sense the various degrees of temperature and thus reach easily to the forefronts of human bodies.    

8- The female mosquitos have 48 tiny teeth in their mouths that allow them to pierce the human and animal skin. 

9- The female mosquitos have three hearts within their bodies.

10- The female mosquitos has 6 tiny knives in their tube-like mouthpart, with each serving a certain function.

11- The female mosquitos have three wings in the right side and three other in the left side of their bodies.

12- The female mosquitos have something like infrared device inside their bodies that allow them to reflect the color of human skin in the darkness, turning the color into violet so that the skin could be seen.

13- The female mosquitos have something in their tube-like mouthpieces that produces the anesthetic effect so that the human victim would not feel that the skin is being pierced; yet, an attentive human being can feel slight pain when the blood is being sucked.   

14- The female mosquitos can analyze the blood sucked from human victims within an organ inside their bellies, because these insects do NOT like the taste of all types of blood.

15- The female mosquitos have an organ inside them to dilute blood to make it move easily inside the tiny tube-like mouthpiece.

16- The female mosquitos have a parasitic microorganism or insect living on their backs, never seen by the naked eyes, and feed on the blood sucked by the female mosquitos.  

Lastly:

 We understand now this verse: "God does not shy away from making an example of a female mosquito, or something above it..." (2:26). We see many other insects and creatures larger than the size of mosquitos and are harmful (and sometimes prove to be fatal) to human beings; yet, we rarely heed those creatures less than the size of mosquitos (e.g., bacteria, viruses, germs, and fungi) that are harmful (and sometimes prove to be fatal) to human beings. And we pose the following questions.

1- When will those specializing in many scientific fields (from entomology to outer-space science) link their knowledge to the belief in Allah the Creator of the universe?

2- When will scientists of the West read the Quran scientifically within a neutral scientific methodology?

3- When will Quranists delve deeper into natural sciences to write about scientific facts mentioned in the Quran as miraculous signs that prove that the Author of the Quran is Almighty God the Creator?

4- When will this culture of disgrace and shame vanish within the minds of cultured Muslim thinkers?!